In the final game of the Brown Bears Tip-Off Classic, the Army Black Knights went ice-cold from the field and Brown benefited, winning, 86-66. Brown improved to 3-2 with the win, and Army dropped to 1-4. Brown won all three games it played in the tournament, beating UMass-Lowell on Friday, 82-74, and Sacred Heart on Saturday, 82-77.
A balanced attack for the Bears saw five scorers in double digits, those being Brandon Anderson who had 16 points (4-of-8), Desmond Cambridge’s 13 (5-of-12), 12 each from Zach Hunsaker (4-of-7) and Tamenang Choh (3-of-7), and Obi Okolie’s 10 points as well (2-of-6). Tamenang Choh hauled in 10 rebounds to complete the double-double, and Joshua Howard was just two points short of a double-double as he also had 10 rebounds. Brown controlled the backboard, outrebounding the Knights, 49-33.
Beyond the stat lines, both teams came out struggling, missing easy shots, turning the ball over and picking up bad fouls. The Bears found themselves up 7-4 at the first media timeout after Brandon Anderson hit a long, fading wing three off the glass and in. After the media timeout, Brown’s play was much less sloppy, resulting in a 46-26 halftime lead. This came from two different ways: finding themselves in the bonus just eight minute into the game, and a very quick 9-0 mini-run led by Desmond Cambridge and Brandon Anderson baseline three pointers, and George Mawanda-Kalema with a long three of his own. Brown ran the table again in the second half, finding themselves up 28 points late, but Army finished the game on a 10-2 run with the reserves in.
Tommy Funk, Matt Wilson, and Aaron Duhart were all in double digits for the Knights, with 15, 14 and 13 points respectively. Army played a total of 16 men throughout the night, with nine of them finding the scoring column.
Overall, it was a solid weekend for the Bears, going 3-0 and winning their tournament. But Brown still has a long way to go. Brown gave Army space for shots, but the Knights just could not convert, shooting 35 percent overall and 24 percent from three. Sacred Heart has only one win against a Division l opponent, with that being Army by just one point. Still, three straight wins are three straight wins.
The Bears will next compete on Wednesday at 7 p.m. when they take on Division lll Salve Regina at the Pizzitola Sports Center. As always, the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The game is one of two games against Division lll opponents this year, taking on Johnson & Wales (RI) in January. Johnson & Wales will be coming off its first game against a Division l opponent this season just 10 days earlier when faces off against Cornell.